Destination Guides > Australia > New South Wales > Sydney > Eating & Drinking
Sydney
Eating & Drinking
Sydney is a good city for eating. It’s not quite up there with Melbourne, but it is good value with a lot of cheap meal deals.
There are plenty of fast food joints and food courts and some of the hostels organise regular cheap meals. There is also a good range of 24-hour places to satisfy those midnight cravings.
A lot of pubs advertise $7 steak and $10 steak and beer deals. It’s usually a cheap cut, like rump, but it fills you up and usually comes with chips and salad. A lot of pubs advertise these cheap deals to pull in the punters so they can sell them more beer. It’s not a bad deal when you consider that it’s not much more expensive than a McDonald’s meal. Just look for the “$7 Steak” signs in pub windows.
Sydney’s favourite fish and chips is Doyles at Watsons Bay – avoid the fancy upmarket restaurant of the same name and head to the cheaper fish and chip place across the road. It involves a ferry ride from Circular Quay so it is only a cheap meal if you have a TravelPass.
If you’re hankering for a meat pie, then Harry’s Cafe de Wheels is a Sydney institution worth visiting for a late night snack. The original pie cart is on Cowper Wharf Road in Woolloomooloo, but there is a more central one on Capitol Square in the city centre. Harry’s clientele has included Frank Sinatra, Marlene Dietrich and Colonel Sanders and it has also featured in the second season of the Amazing Race TV show.
If you’re preparing your own food there are several supermarkets in the city centre including a Coles in World Square (650 George Street, Sydney; train Town Hall) and at Wynyard Station (289-307 George Street, Sydney; train Wynyard) and a Woolworths next to Town Hall Station (corner Park & George Streets, Sydney). In Kings Cross you’ll find a Coles in the Hyatt Kingsgate Shopping Centre (88-94 Darlinghurst Road, Kings Cross; train Kings Cross) underneath the big Coca Cola sign, and a Woolworths in the Icon Building in Potts Point (81 Macleay Street, Potts Point; train Kings Cross). If you’re staying in Glebe your best bet are the Bi-Lo and Coles supermarkets in the Broadway Shopping Centre on Bay Street near the southern end of Glebe Point Road.
Sydney has a growing café scene with plenty of good cafés in all the neighbourhoods frequented by backpackers but pubs are more popular with most travellers. The best pubs are generally those in the more established areas such as The Rocks, Surry Hills, Woolloomooloo and the city centre.
A couple of the more centrally located Irish pubs are Paddy Maguire’s on Capitol Square (corner George & Hay Streets, Sydney; MLR tram Capitol Square) and Scruffy Murphy’s (43-49 Goulburn Street, Sydney; train Town Hall). Paddy’s is probably the better of the two and its convenient location means that a lot of visitors to Sydney end up here on some point of their travels, but a lot of travellers prefer the more rowdy atmosphere at Scruffy Murphy’s. The Three Wise Monkeys (555 George Street, Sydney; train Town Hall) is a good city pub in a former bank that is a popular backpackers’ haunt with three floors of bars, a good atmosphere and live music. Scubar, in the basement of the Sydney Central YHA (2-24 Rawson Place, Sydney; train Central MRL tram Central), is probably the best known backpackers’ bar in Sydney. It features theme nights including its famous crab races on Monday nights. The Side Bar in the basement of Wake Up! (509 Pitt Street, Sydney; train Central MRL tram Central) is another major backpackers’ bar with pool tables, drinking games and food specials.
Backpackers staying in Kings Cross, Darlinghurst and Woolloomooloo hang out at the Empire Hotel (2A Roslyn Street, Potts Point; train Kings Cross), which is open 24 hours and attracts a mixed crowd. The World Bar (24 Bayswater Road, Kings Cross; train Kings Cross) is another popular Kings Cross backpackers’ bar that has more of a nightclub feel with thumping dance music.
Pubs in beachside suburbs are known for their outdoor areas and beer gardens and many beach pubs boast sea views. The Coogee Beach Palace Hotel (169 Dolphin Street, Coogee; bus 313, 314, 370, 372, 373, 374, X73, X74) is the most popular pub among backpackers staying in Coogee and the Bondi Hotel (178 Campbell Parade, Bondi Beach; bus 333, 380, 381, 382, X84) is the main drinking spot in Bondi.
Many of Sydney’s hostels have excellent rooftop decks that make a good venue for drinking back at the hostel. Buy a six-pack from the local bottle shop, head back to your hostel and enjoy Sydney’s cheapest drinking option.
